334 FILICES. rohjpoJium. 



1. POLYPODIUM, Limi. Polypody. 

 Sori round or oval, very rarely elongated, placed on the back of the frond at the 

 ends of the veins, rarely on the back of the veins, but in many (foreign) species at 

 the point where several veins unite, entirely destitute of indusium. Stalks articu- 

 lated to a slightly prominent knob of the chaflFy rootstock, Avhich is usually creeping 

 and elongated. Veins free or reticulated in several different ways. Fronds smooth 

 and simply pinnatifid in the Californian species. 



A genus of about 350 species, of which the greater part inhabit tropical regions. Tlie fronds 

 vary from simple to (piadii-pinnatilid, and are sometimes hairy or scaly, or densely stellate- 

 pubescent. 



§ 1. Veins uniformly free. — Eupolypodium. 



1. p. vulgare, Linn. Plant 4 to 12 inches high : stalks slender: frond sub- 

 coriaceous, evergreen, ovate-oblong to oblong-linear, acuminate, pinnatitid almost to 

 the midrib ; segments numerous, linear-oblong, obtuse or acute, crenulate or serrate ; 

 veins usually with 3 or 4 veinlets, the lowest ones on the upper side of the vein 

 bearing at their thickened ends the subglobose sori midway between the midrib and 

 the margin of the segments. — Gray, Manual, 658, t. 15; AVilliamson, Fern Etch- 

 ings, t. 1 ; Eaton, Ferns of N". Amer. i. 237, t. 31, fig. 1 - 3. 



Near San Francisco and Benicia, and northward, often growing on trees ; in the Rocky foun- 

 tains and eastward to the Atlantic ; also in Europe, Asia and parts of Africa. The plant of the 

 Pacific Coast has long-pointed segments, serrated towards the apex, and is var. occidcntale of 

 Hooker. But similar forms occur in Europe and even in the Atlantic States. 



2. P. falcatum, Kellogg. Stalks slender: frond thin-membranaceous, 9 to 15 

 inches long, 4 to G broad, broadly lanceolate in outline, pinnatifid to the midrib ; 

 segments numerous, tapering from a dilated base to a very long and atteiuiate point, 

 often somewhat falcate, sharply serrate, the lower ones a little shorter tlian those in 

 the middle, and separated by much broader sinuses ; veins mostly Avith four veinlets : 

 sori medium-sized, nearer the mid vein than the margin. — Proc. Calif. Acad. i. 20 ; 

 Eaton, Ferns of X. Amer. i. 201, t. 26. P. Glycyrrhiza, Eaton, Am. Journ. Sci. 

 2 ser. xxii. 138. 



On the mossy walls of a mountain canon, 3,000 feet elevation. Trinity Count}', Prof. G. R. 

 Kleehcrger, Oct. 1879. On trees and sometimes on rocks, not rare in Oi-egon and in Washington 

 Territory. Thinner in texture than P. vulgare, to which it is referred by Baker. A careful com- 

 parison of living plants is needed before a satisfactory conclusion can be reached. 



§ 2. Veinlets more or less frequently anastomosing by the junction of the second 

 superior veinlet of one group ivith the first inferior veinlet of the next 

 superior grou]). — Goniophlebium. 



3. P. Californicum, Kaxdfuss. Stalks moderately slender : fronds from a few 

 inches to a lout long, papery -herbaceous or, if grown near the sea, subcoriaceous, 

 ovate or ovate-oblong, pinnatifid almost to the midrib ; segments numerous, oblong- 

 linear, acute or obtuse, the lower ones mostly opposite, narrowed at tlie lower side 

 of the base, and separated by rounded sinuses, the upper ones often opposite, dilated 

 at the base, especially on the upper side, and separated by narrow sinuses ; margins 

 obscurely or plainly serrate, rarely even incised ; veins with four to six veinlets, and 

 often forming a single series of oblique areolations which extend nearly to the mar- 

 gin : sori somewhat oval, rather remote from the margin. — Einnn. Fil. 102 ; 

 Eaton, 1. c. 243, t. 31, fig. 4, 5. P. intermedium, Hook. & Arn. Uot. Eeechey, 405. 



California ; mostly near the coast, from San Diego and Guadalupe Island northward. Plants 

 grown veiy near the sea have thicker fronds and veinleis more regularly anastomosing than those 

 which are remote from the influence of the salt water, and correspond more closely with the 

 character given by Kaulfuss, while the inland form is that described by Hooker & Arnott as 

 P. intermedium. 



